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Carrie-Anne Moss

Carrie-Anne Moss, actor (born at Burnaby, BC 21 Aug 1967). Carrie-Anne Moss began her career as a model after moving from Canada's west coast to Toronto at the age of 18.

Carrie-Anne Moss, actor (born at Burnaby, BC 21 Aug 1967). Carrie-Anne Moss began her career as a model after moving from Canada's west coast to Toronto at the age of 18. A successful start in that vocation resulted in an extended stay in Europe and her career as an actress began shortly thereafter. She attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Pasadena, Ca, and made one-off guest appearances in both Canadian and American television, but it was while in Barcelona in 1991 that she landed her first recurring role, in the Spanish television series Dark Justice.

That series was a hit in Spain and was moved to Los Angeles to introduce it to the coveted North American market. While it only survived in syndication for another 2 years, Moss's career took shape with recurring roles on many high-profile series shooting in Los Angeles and Canada. Notably, she appeared in the ironically titled Canadian syndicated action series Matrix (which bears no other connection with the extraordinarily successful Hollywood science fiction films in which Moss would later appear) and the short-lived Models Inc. The latter series did not endure past its first season, and while Moss still wasn't well known to American audiences she was seen within the ever-fickle Hollywood industry as a promising young talent.

The Matrix

In 1999, industry predictions proved true when she was cast in her best-known role as Trinity in the science fiction/martial arts epic The Matrix. Moss's performance as the toughened, melancholic and cynical hacker/freedom fighter struggling to liberate an enslaved humanity from its own robotic creations was the emotional core of the film, and a key part of its distinction as one of the more original Hollywood productions of that year. Apart from the usual pre-production rituals such as rehearsals and wardrobe fittings in which all actors participate, Moss took part in a gruelling training regimen lasting several months to ensure that the numerous choreographed martial arts sequences within the film appeared genuine. The film itself was phenomenally successful and spawned a franchise including 2 more features, animated programs and videogames, with Moss reprising her role in all of them.

In Spite of Typecasting

Carrie-Anne Moss has fought the sort of typecasting that can plague many performers' careers after similar successes. She appeared in the box-office hit Chocolat (2000) and was awarded the Independent Spirit Award for best supporting actress for her role as Natalie in the mystery thriller Memento (2000). She returned to Canada to work in numerous feature films including Marc Evans's Snow Cake (2006) and Carl Bessai's Normal (2007), winning a Genie Award for best supporting actress for her role in the former. She co-starred in the romantic comedy Love Hurts (2009) and alongside Samuel Jackson as an FBI agent in Unthinkable (2010), which questions the use of torture as a method of interrogation when innocent lives are at risk.

She voiced the character of Aria T'Loak, the Pirate Queen of the Omega system, in 2 sequels of the phenomenally popular science fiction role-playing videogame series Mass Effect (2010-12), and has appeared as Assistant District Attorney Katherine O'Connell in several episodes of the American gangster series Vegas (2012-13).